4-H Partnership with the Boys & Girls Club

4-H expands programming through partnership with the

Boys and Girls Club of the Peninsula

The 4-H youth development program is pleased to announce that it has joined forces with the Boys and Girls Club of Peninsula to offer after school enrichment programming. The Boys and Girls Club of the Peninsula provides free after school programming to school aged youth at twenty-five sites across San Mateo county. In September, 4-H staff began leading the 4-H Water Wizards and Youth Experiences in Science (YES!) programs at Boys and Girls Club sites.

The Water Wizards curriculum focuses on water science for upper elementary students. A key component of the curriculum is a youth-led service project. In the first cohort at Susan B. Anthony Elementary, students identified flooding on campus as being a key issue. To address this, they planted a native garden that will help encourage groundwater percolation.

“It's amazing to see the investment from the students, especially after completing the service learning projects,” says Dr. Sally Neas, 4-H youth development advisor. “Prior to the project, there were two boys in the class who had trouble focusing and participating in a constructive way. But after they planted the garden, they showed up with notebooks and took notes the whole class.” The profound shift in student engagement highlights the advantage to learning educational modalities that give authentic power and leadership opportunities to youth, something 4-H has a long strong legacy of doing.

In the YES! Curriculum, students engage in hands-on, inquiry-based learning, diving into the scientific processes of observation, communication, comparison, and organization.  Geared to younger children, the curriculum encourages exploration and observation of everyday phenomena and creatures around us.  In the latest round of classes, students got their hands in the dirt, exploring worms and learned all about the science of bubbles.

Both programs make good strides to expand the reach of 4-H to new populations outside of our club programs.  Since September 4-H has served 60 youth already and, by the end of school year, will serve approximately 200 youth through these programs.